Tag Archives: Bill Daley

The new issue of the ABA Journal features a cover story called “The Lawyers Who May Run America” that speculates on which attorneys are most likely to attain senior positions in either an Obama or McCain administration.

I found two Chicago connections among the speculative McCain picks. One is potential solicitor general Maureen Mahoney, who heads up Latham & Watkins’ appellate litigation group in Washington, D.C. Mahoney is a University of Chicago Law School graduate whom, the ABA says, has been called “the female John Roberts” by legal historian David Garrow. The second is Michael McConnell, a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who is also a University of Chicago Law School graduate and is mentioned as a possible U.S. Supreme Court pick.

At least three names with Chicago connections are mentioned among possible Obama appointees, including the choice du jour for everything from White House chief of staff to replacement in the U.S. Senate Valerie Jarrett. In this case, the ABA has Jarrett tabbed for HUD Secretary.

Law professor Cass Sunstein is at Harvard now, but he is a former University of Chicago Law School colleague of Obama’s and an advisor. He is also married to Samantha Power, one of Obama’s foreign policy specialists also likely to play a role in an Obama administration. The ABA thinks Sunstein is in line to be White House domestic policy advisor. (He supported George W. Bush’s appointment of Michael McConnell to the court of appeals, by the way.)

Diane Wood who sits on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Illinois and is based in Chicago, is seen as a potential Supreme Court pick. “A Clinton appointee to the appeals court, Wood is seen as one of the country’s smartest judges,” the ABA says. “She’s a liberal who has authored a fair amount of high-profile dissents in the conservative 7th Circuit.”

Notable omissions include U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, a Harvard Law School graduate frequently mentioned as a possible U.S. attorney general or FBI chief, and Bill Daley, a John Marshall Law School graduate. Daley sounds far more interested in running for governor than returning to Washington, but he is a former Commerce Secretary under Bill Clinton.

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In a brief roundup (not available yet online) of similar speculation among a variety of media sources, the new Chicago magazine cites U.S. News & World Report predicting Bill Daley as Treasury Secretary, while Ebony Jet picks Jarrett for the same job.

“State residents will be more vulnerable to offenses like identity theft and mortgage fraud if significant cuts to her office budget are allowed to stand, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is warning, Crain’sreports.

Yes, but it’s hard to separate out Mike Madigan’s irresponsible and politically motivated actions, illustrating that her father is still as much a hindrance as a help to whatever ambitions she has. Can you imagine a Governor Madigan working with her father (presumably) to hammer out a budget that steamrolls over everyone else? Or would Mike Madigan step down if he can elect his daughter governor? Otherwise, the spectacle might be too much for even Illinoisans to stomach.

Then again, the specter of a Governor Bill Daley poses its own questions.

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Paul Vallas campaign slogans:

– Nobody Sent Me!
– Not Related To Any Of ‘Em!
– Not My Family Business!
– End Family Reign!
– Change No One Is Related To!

Today’s story about William Daley Jr.’s role in helping Morgan Stanley land business from Cook County sent me back to the Sun-Times’s look at “The next generation of Chicago’s first family” last month, which it called “The Daley Family: Version 3.0.” Let’s take a look.

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Billy Daley Jr.’s Cook County deal is hardly the first Chicago door he’s opened for Morgan Stanley. That’s what they hired him to do. But his exact role in some lucrative arrangements remain shadowy.

For example, the Sun-Times reported in its series last month that “Within a year [of hiring], his employer signed a new deal with his uncle, Mayor Daley. Morgan Stanley got a 99-year lease to operate the city’s four underground parking garages. City Hall got an upfront payment of $563 million – the highest offer made.

“Morgan Stanley hopes to strike two more deals with Mayor Daley. It’s among several bidders seeking long-term leases to run Midway Airport and oversee 36,161 parking meters.”

Morgan Stanley told the paper in a statement that Bill Daley Jr. “was not involved” in any of the City Hall deals, but also refused to answer the paper’s written questions. And “In a brief phone conversation, Daley said he was too busy to talk and would call back. He didn’t.”

If Cook County needs a new revenue stream, it ought to consider making reality TV series’ out of various aspects of its operations. For example, home renovation shows are hotter than an overburdened Cook County taxpayer right now, and a perfect opportunity has presented itself. I bring you:

The Cook County Criminal Courts Administration Building Kitchen Renovation project!

That’s right. A kitchen makeover at the, um, CCCAB is well underway – the change orders are already rolling in.

Here’s the agenda of that just came out from the Construction Committee – surely a fine source of subplots and treachery:

JUNE 24, 2008 NOTICE

“The recessed meeting of the Construction Committee of June 24, 2008 of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County will reconvene on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 at the hour of 9:30 A.M. in the Board Room, Room 569, County Building, 118 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois to consider the following:

transmitted herewith for your approval is Change Order No. 6 in the amount of $174,215.09 to the contract with Simpson Construction Company, Bellwood, Illinois, contractor for the Cook County Criminal Courts Administration Building Kitchen Renovation project. It is respectfully requested that this Honorable Body approve this request.

Reason: This change order provides for the rebuilding and removal of existing molded walls and corroded metal studs per industry standards, replacement of all corroded electrical conduits within the wall and the installation of an additional layer of waterproofing membrane and epoxy grouting.